Private Chau exited the tunnel at speed, his rifle in his hand, for all the good it would do him. The increasing depth of the water caught him unawares and he stumbled, before righting himself and then stumbling again. He fell face down into the water, three metres right of the tunnel.

  Raising his head, Chau scrambled upright, aware that he wasn’t out of danger.

  “This way!” yelled Maxwell. “Here!”

  “Diaz, get your ass in gear!” shouted Lowe on the comms, while Chau got himself moving again.

  Grisham wasn’t sure if Diaz was going to make it. The first Ax’Kol hurtled across the room, as if it had caught wind of something to the north. Before Diaz could exit the tunnel, the creature raced into the passage, its head down and its arms flailing towards the ground, as if the Ax’Kol were evolving to run faster on four limbs instead of two.

  Then, the second of the aliens flashed past Grisham and the soldiers, without so much as a pause in its stride. It too disappeared into the passage and the sounds of its splashing quickly receded.

  “Private Diaz, please report,” said Maxwell.

  Diaz didn’t need to report. She came sprinting out of the passage, her eyes wide and her mouth uttering curses behind her visor.

  “Those bastards nearly killed me,” she said.

  “That’s what the Ax’Kol do, soldier,” said Maxwell, making no effort to hide his relief.

  “Well screw them,” said Diaz with feeling. She raised her middle finger and aimed it at the northern exit.

  Maxwell was immediately back to business. “How does it look to the south, Captain?” he asked. “If we keep heading this way without finding steps to the surface level, we’re going to end up too far south of the cliffs.”

  “I estimate there are twenty or thirty Ax’Kol south of our current position, Sergeant,” said Grisham. “With another forty or so both east and west. I can’t tell you what they’re planning to do next.”

  “What about those bigger alien scumbags you detected getting off the shuttle, sir?” asked Corporal Fine.

  “They’re still north,” said Grisham. He swore. “One of them has just started moving south.”

  “How fast?” asked Maxwell.

  “Mid-pace for the Ax’Kol,” said Grisham.

  “So a fast run for one of us,” said Maxwell.

  “Pretty much.”

  “We’ll continue south,” said Maxwell, though it was clear he was in two minds.

  Grisham headed south with the others. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he thought the water was already deeper than it was when he’d first entered the room. Not only that, the second of the two Ax’Kol commanders had now decided to move south as well.

  It was a bad situation and it wasn’t showing any sign of improving.

  SIXTEEN

  The passage south continued for fifty metres and then emerged into another room, similar to the last, though all three pillars here were upright. Once again, three exits led to nowhere predictable. The water was definitely deeper, though Grisham still couldn’t detect a current.

  “If we don’t find a way up soon, we’re doubly screwed,” said Maxwell. He’d had enough of going south and he pointed at the eastern exit. “We’re going that way.”

  The soldiers waded through the water towards the eastern passage. Once or twice, Grisham’s foot struck an object beneath the water. He shone his light briefly at the ceiling. Pieces of the stone had fallen, but it was difficult to predict where they’d landed. The best and only way to reduce the chance of injury was therefore to take extra care, and that meant slowing down.

  “We’ve got Ax’Kol coming fast from the south,” said Grisham. “Five in total.”

  “Let’s hold for a moment until they’re gone,” said Maxwell. “In case they decide to go east as well.”

  The soldiers stood anxiously near the passage entrance. They were beginning to feel the pressure, and Grisham couldn’t blame them.

  Two Ax’Kol came in from the south, slowed by the water now, but not by much. The aliens threw up sheets of water as they traversed the room, and their passage left wakes across the dark surface.

  A few seconds later, the other three which Grisham had detected, also entered from the south. These ones weren’t moving nearly so fast. Two of them walked purposefully along the far side of the room, while the third strode directly towards the soldiers. As it came, the alien swept its long arms in and out, trailing its sickly yellow talons though the water.

  “That one’s going to be trouble,” said Corporal Fine.

  “Into the passage,” said Maxwell.

  He waved the soldiers to move, but ordered Private Lowe and Private Vaughan to stay at the back. Grisham thought it was too confined for shoulder rockets, but he didn’t say anything.

  Corporal Fine was now in the lead and she pressed on through the water. In terms of height, she wasn’t much above Grisham’s shoulder, and the water came noticeably further up her legs. It didn’t visibly affect her pace, but Grisham was sure she was feeling the drag.

  “The Ax’Kol has entered the passageway after us,” said Maxwell on the comms. “Don’t slow down, Corporal Fine.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, Sergeant,” said Fine.

  Grisham looked over his shoulder. Private Logan was next in line, and to the man’s credit, he didn’t appear any more discomposed than the other soldiers. The rest of the squad was right behind Logan, and Grisham wasn’t able to see much past them. He thought he caught a glimpse of either Maxwell or Vaughan, but the Ax’Kol was out of sight.

  As he fought his way through the water, Grisham cast out his mind again. When the squad had first entered this passage, there’d been no Ax’Kol in a straight line this way, though plenty had been in motion eastwards. Now, there was an enemy somewhere ahead and off to one side.

  “There’s a room at the end of this passage,” said Fine, just as Grisham was trying to figure out exactly how far away the Ax’Kol was.

  “Be wary, Corporal,” said Grisham. “There might be an enemy waiting for us.”

  “And with all our big guns at the back of the pack,” said Fine.

  Nevertheless, she pressed on, not that she had much choice, since there was another Ax’Kol approaching from the rear.

  Grisham searched ahead with his telepathy. While he was having difficulty pinpointing the enemy, he marvelled at how much farther he could cast his mind now that he had the Andos, and how much easier it was to do so.

  Despite the huge volume he was searching – at the same time as maintaining a twenty-metre telepathic shield over the soldiers – the headache hadn’t returned. Not only that, it all seemed so easy, and he suspected that once he had a chance to experiment with the artifact, he’d discover just how much it amplified his telepathic power.

  First, of course, he had to escape from this city and then he had to further escape Hevos while an Ax’Kol capital ship was somewhere close by. Having gained a hint of this new mind’s potency, Grisham didn’t want to contemplate what kind of warship it inhabited. It was quickly becoming apparent that the Kijol hadn’t yet seen more than a fraction of what the Ax’Kol had in their fleet.

  Another quick check told him that the two biggest Ax’Kol were still on their way south. They weren’t travelling with much urgency, but those tendrils kept stabbing out from their minds. Grisham was becoming increasingly confident that his telepathic shield was working well against the smaller aliens, but when it came to these other two, he wasn’t nearly so certain.

  In the split second during which Grisham was observing these enemies, one of the mind tendrils jumped towards him. Instinctively, he deflected it, but that very act of deflection gave the alien a clue about his location. It quickened its pace and, a moment later, the second one did likewise. The behaviour of the other Ax’Kol didn’t change.

  “Ten metres and the passage ends,” said Fine on the squad comms. “Are we continuing east, Sergeant?”

  “I was hoping for a moment to assess,” said Maxwell. “We’re still being followed. I don’t know if it’s with purpose, or just down to bad luck.”

  “Those Ax’Kol commanders might have just caught wind of me, Sergeant,” said Grisham. “They’re still heading south, but faster now. If we find a way up and then have to go north again, we might run into them.”

  Maxwell took it on the chin. “If it comes to a fight, we’ll make sure to put plenty of holes in them.”

  Corporal Fine exited the tunnel and her flashlight beam snapped north. “Got us another Ax’Kol in here,” she said, wading immediately south. “It’s about thirty metres north of my position.”

  Having exited the passage, Grisham also went south. The Ax’Kol was exactly where Fine had said it was, a hulking figure in the water, turning its head left and right as it searched for the soldiers.

  When Grisham directed his light south, he could dimly make out the wall that way. He could also hear water running - not quite in a gush, but with the kind of volume and inevitability that would eventually see this entire level of the city flooded. Now, the currents were faintly visible on the surface of the water, though they didn’t pull at him strongly.

  Corporal Fine was good at making decisions when she had to. “We’ll go south around this Ax’Kol and make for the eastern exit,” she said. “Assuming there’s one to be found.”

  As Fine was talking, Grisham caught the sound of urgent splashing, coming from elsewhere in the room. He searched, and discovered that a third Ax’Kol was heading in from the east.

  “We’ve got another enemy on its way,” said Grisham.

  “It’s like they’re triangulating on us,” said Corporal Barkley.

  Grisham didn’t know if that was how the Ax’Kol hunted, but Barkley’s theory made superficial sense. However, Grisham had seen the enemy act independently enough times that he was sure the truth was more nuanced.

  By the time Grisham had made it fifteen metres towards the south wall, last man Private Vaughan had entered the room. The soldier had a two-handed grip on his XR repeater and he leaned forward as he forged his way through the water.

  “Here it comes,” said Maxwell grimly.

  The pursuing alien exited the tunnel a few paces behind Vaughan and it stopped a short distance into the room still swinging its arms so that its talons left furrows in the water. Meanwhile, the splashing coming from the east had quietened down and Grisham couldn’t be sure if he was still able to hear it over the sounds of the ingress he’d noticed earlier.

  “That’s three aliens in the room with us,” said Maxwell. “Captain, are any others incoming?”

  “Only the two big Ax’Kol,” said Grisham. “For now.” He cursed inwardly. Although he could monitor the enemy movements, the information seemed next to useless here underground where the aliens were so numerous and where they could move from one place to another so quickly.

  “I can see the eastern exit,” said Corporal Fine. “There’s an Ax’Kol standing near it.” She turned her flashlight north. “And the first one I saw hasn’t moved.”

  “There’s a crack in the south wall near the far corner,” said Grisham. “I can feel the current – it must be where most of this water is coming from.”

  Fine advanced a few more metres and then stopped, about forty metres from the eastern exit. “There are steps this way,” she said.

  “How’re we planning to climb them with so many damned Ax’Kol hunting us?” asked Lowe.

  “I’ll tell you how,” said Maxwell angrily. “I’m going to shove that rocket tube up your ass, pick up the clean end and use you as a battering ram.”

  Lowe was instantly contrite. “Sorry, Sergeant. I was just saying it in the hope that someone might have a plan. This place sucks.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Private,” said Maxwell, his anger gone in an instant. “This place does suck, and that’s why we’re getting out of here. All of us.”

  “Are we making for the stairs, Sergeant?” asked Fine.

  “Absolutely,” said Maxwell. “We’re going to walk straight around that Ax’Kol standing at the eastern passage.”

  “Let’s not hang around,” said Grisham. “I’m sure my shield is holding, but something must have brought these Ax’Kol here.”

  Corporal Fine waded on through the water and Grisham stayed with her. He glanced once over his shoulder and saw Maxwell surging to catch up with the pack.

  “We’ll stay close to the south wall, then head north and enter the passage behind that alien,” said Fine.

  As Grisham came closer to the cracked section of the wall, the current increased, though not so much that he was in danger of being swept away. When he was opposite the opening, Grisham shone his light inside. The gap was only a few inches across where it started near the ceiling, but it widened steadily until it was more than twelve inches where it entered the water.

  The crack was also deep and Grisham couldn’t see where it went. He was sure the lack of water pressure indicated this wasn’t a breach in the walls of another reservoir – more likely it was from an underground stream or river.

  Following Corporal Fine, Grisham went north, staying close to the wall. The alien was fifty metres or so ahead and it was five or six metres in front of the eastern exit. Aiming his light north-west, Grisham searched for the alien which had originally been in the room. He saw it – just – and the creature hadn’t moved.

  “What about that alien that followed us here, Sergeant?” asked Corporal Fine.

  “I can’t see it,” said Maxwell.

  Grisham searched and found. “That Ax’Kol is heading across the middle of the room,” he said. “It’s not far from the western entrance but it’s going east in a straight line. We’ll be out of here before it reaches the eastern exit – as long as it doesn’t speed up.”

  “Shit,” said Maxwell sourly.

  Until now, Corporal Fine had been travelling fast, but at a pace that took underwater debris into consideration. Upon hearing about the Ax’Kol crossing the room, she pushed on, quicker than before.

  “Twenty metres to the exit,” said Fine.

  Grisham looked once more behind him. The soldiers didn’t want to be trapped here and they’d bunched up, so the last man – Maxwell – was only five or so metres from Corporal Fine.

  Looking north again, Grisham held his flashlight beam on the Ax’Kol. Water clung to the alien’s flesh, making it glisten. The creature was facing west, and didn’t move so much as an inch. It might as well have been a statue carved from obsidian. Grisham heard splashing and he pointed his light beam west. An Ax’Kol was striding through the water, the strength of its legs sending spray everywhere.

  “Incoming,” said Grisham calmly.

  “I see it,” said Corporal Fine.

  She advanced without slowing to the eastern exit, and her light beam jumped between the two Ax’Kol. Neither of the aliens showed any specific awareness of the soldiers, and Fine turned into the passage and out of sight. A few moments later, Grisham also exited the room. The tunnel continued east, but he saw steps leading up from an opening in the north wall a few metres ahead. He went for them.

  “Watch out!” yelled Private Chau.

  Grisham turned at the warning, and saw an Ax’Kol sprinting directly towards him from the room he’d just exited. The alien approached with such speed that he could only act on instinct.

  In desperation, Grisham threw himself towards the nearest wall. The water dragged at him, and he was sure he was going to be too late to avoid the onrushing alien.

  Tensing his muscles, Grisham readied himself for the impact.

  SEVENTEEN

  The anticipated impact didn’t come. Instead of trampling Grisham, or smashing him into the wall, or perhaps even skewering him with its claws, the Ax’Kol simply diverted around in a shower of displaced water, and continued east without slowing.

  Grisham was stunned by his escape, but he didn’t stand gawping. Instead, he waded the short distance to the stairwell entrance, where Corporal Fine was already a few steps up. She looked quizzically at Grisham, but didn’t say anything.

  “I think the stairs are clear,” he said.

  Fine shrugged. “Let’s find out.”

  Without further talk, she began climbing. Not wishing to hold up the escape, Grisham started his ascent. The steps were a couple of metres wide and the risers were high like they’d been on the way down. In the available light, Grisham could see a switchback landing about twenty metres up. He also noticed many fine cracks in the ceiling, though as-yet no debris had come down.

  “Keep moving!” shouted Maxwell from the back. “All the way to the top.”

  Grisham leaned into the climb, the Andos still gripped tightly in his left hand. He heard the other soldiers coming behind, but he didn’t turn to look. A short way up, Corporal Fine made it to the landing and she went left out of sight.

  “We’ve got another landing after this one,” she said on the comms.

  The original descent had been long, and Grisham fully expected to be climbing for a while. If the squad ran into an Ax’Kol coming the other way, they’d be in the shit, but there wasn’t much he could do about that.

  Turning at the first landing, Grisham continued to a second and then a third. He felt the muscles in his legs complaining, but he ignored the pain. Meanwhile, he did his best to monitor the Ax’Kol movements within the city.

  Maintaining the shield and scanning for the enemy no longer required much effort, freeing up his mind to think of other things. Grisham was most interested in his recent near collision with the Ax’Kol at the bottom of the stairs. The creature had definitely moved to avoid him and he had a feeling it was because his telepathic shield was so effective that the alien had perceived him as no more than an obstacle in its path – like a fallen stone that was in the way.

  Soon after, Grisham had a chance to test out his theory. He sensed one of the Ax’Kol stop at what he thought was the upper entrance to the stairwell. It didn’t respond to his mental curses urging it to leave, and it began descending.